[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5486-S5487]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 5994. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe)
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:
SEC. 10__. GREATER SAGE-GROUSE PROTECTION AND RECOVERY.
(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
(1) to facilitate implementation of State management plans
over a period of multiple, consecutive greater sage-grouse
life cycles; and
(2) to demonstrate the efficacy of the State management
plans for the protection and recovery of the greater sage-
grouse.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Federal resource management plan.--The term ``Federal
resource management plan'' means--
(A) a land use plan prepared by the Bureau of Land
Management for public land pursuant to section 202 of the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.
1712); and
(B) a land and resource management plan prepared by the
Forest Service for National
[[Page S5487]]
Forest System land pursuant to section 6 of the Forest and
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C.
1604).
(2) Greater sage-grouse.--The term ``greater sage-grouse''
means a sage-grouse of the species Centrocercus urophasianus.
(3) State management plan.--The term ``State management
plan'' means a State-approved plan for the protection and
recovery of the greater sage-grouse.
(c) Protection and Recovery of Greater Sage-grouse.--
(1) Endangered species act of 1973 findings.--
(A) Delay required.--The Secretary of the Interior may not
modify or invalidate the finding of the Director of the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced in the
proposed rule entitled ``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition to List Greater
Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as an Endangered or
Threatened Species'' (80 Fed. Reg. 59858 (October 2, 2015))
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment
of this Act.
(B) Effect on other laws.--The delay required under
subparagraph (A) is and shall remain effective without regard
to any other statute, regulation, court order, legal
settlement, or any other provision of law or in equity.
(C) Effect on conservation status.--The conservation status
of the greater sage-grouse shall be considered not to warrant
listing of the greater sage-grouse as an endangered species
or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) during the 10-year period
beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) Coordination of federal land management and state
conservation and management plans.--
(A) Prohibition on withdrawal and modification of federal
resource management plans.--On notification by the Governor
of a State with a State management plan, the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may not make,
modify, or extend any withdrawal or amend or otherwise modify
any Federal resource management plan applicable to Federal
land in the State in a manner inconsistent with the State
management plan for, as specified by the Governor in the
notification, a period of not fewer than 5 years beginning on
the date of the notification.
(B) Retroactive effect.--In the case of any State that
provides notification under subparagraph (A), if any
withdrawal was made, modified, or extended or any amendment
or modification of a Federal resource management plan
applicable to Federal land in the State was issued after June
1, 2014, and the withdrawal, amendment, or modification
altered the management of the greater sage-grouse or the
habitat of the greater sage-grouse--
(i) implementation and operation of the withdrawal,
amendment, or modification shall be stayed to the extent that
the withdrawal, amendment, or modification is inconsistent
with the State management plan; and
(ii) the Federal resource management plan, as in effect
immediately before the withdrawal, amendment, or
modification, shall apply instead with respect to the
management of the greater sage-grouse and the habitat of the
greater sage-grouse, to the extent consistent with the State
management plan.
(C) Determination of inconsistency.--Any disagreement
regarding whether a withdrawal, amendment, or other
modification of a Federal resource management plan is
inconsistent with a State management plan shall be resolved
by the Governor of the affected State.
(3) Relation to national environmental policy act of
1969.--With regard to any major Federal action consistent
with a State management plan, any findings, analyses, or
conclusions regarding the greater sage-grouse and the habitat
of the greater sage-grouse under section 102(2)(C) of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.
4332(2)(C)) shall not have a preclusive effect on the
approval or implementation of the major Federal action in
that State.
(4) Reporting requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter
through the date that is 10 years after that date of
enactment, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture shall jointly submit to the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives a report
describing the implementation by the Secretaries of, and the
effectiveness of, systems to monitor the status of greater
sage-grouse on Federal land under the jurisdiction of the
Secretaries.
(5) Judicial review.--Notwithstanding any other provision
of law (including regulations), this subsection, including
any determination made under paragraph (2)(C), shall not be
subject to judicial review.
SEC. 10__. IMPLEMENTATION OF LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN RANGE-
WIDE CONSERVATION PLAN AND OTHER CONSERVATION
MEASURES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Candidate conservation agreement; candidate
conservation agreement with assurances.--The terms
``Candidate Conservation Agreement'' and ``Candidate
Conservation Agreement with Assurances'' have the meanings
given those terms in the announcement of the Department of
the Interior and the Department of Commerce entitled
``Announcement of Final Policy for Candidate Conservation
Agreements with Assurances'' (64 Fed. Reg. 32726 (June 17,
1999)).
(2) Lesser prairie-chicken.--The term ``lesser prairie-
chicken'' means a prairie-chicken of the species Tympanuchus
pallidicinctus.
(3) Range-wide plan.--The term ``Range-Wide Plan'' means
the lesser prairie-chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan of
the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, as
described in the proposed rule of the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service entitled ``Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Lesser-Prairie Chicken as a
Threatened Species with a Special Rule'' (79 Fed. Reg. 4652
(January 29, 2014)).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(b) Prohibition on Treatment as Threatened or Endangered
Species.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any prior action by the
Secretary, the lesser prairie-chicken shall not be treated as
a threatened species or an endangered species under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
before the date that is 10 years after the date of enactment
of this Act.
(2) Prohibition on proposal.--Effective beginning on the
date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this
Act, the lesser prairie-chicken may not be treated as a
threatened species or an endangered species under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
unless the Secretary publishes a determination, based on the
totality of the scientific evidence, that conservation (as
that term is used in that Act) under the Range-Wide Plan and
the agreements, programs, and efforts described in subsection
(c) have not achieved the conservation goals established by
the Range-Wide Plan.
(c) Monitoring of Progress of Conservation Programs.--The
Secretary shall monitor and annually submit to Congress a
report on the conservation progress of the lesser prairie-
chicken under the Range-Wide Plan and all related--
(1) Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate
Conservation Agreements with Assurances;
(2) Federal conservation programs administered by the
Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary
of Agriculture;
(3) State conservation programs; and
(4) private conservation efforts.
SEC. 10__. REMOVAL OF ENDANGERED SPECIES STATUS FOR AMERICAN
BURYING BEETLE.
Notwithstanding the final rule of the United States Fish
and Wildlife Service entitled ``Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for
the American Burying Beetle'' (54 Fed. Reg. 29652 (July 13,
1989)), the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)
may not be listed as a threatened species or an endangered
species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.).
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